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FUNNY FACTS
13 people died in one
commercial airline accident in 2004. Those were the only people to die
on commercial airlines that year.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has issued six driver's
licenses to six different people named Jesus Christ.
Chicago is closer to Moscow than it is to Rio de Janeiro.
Dogs have two sets of teeth, just like humans. They first have 30
"puppy" teeth, then 42 adult teeth.
In 1950, President Harry Truman threw out the first ball twice at the
opening day Washington DC baseball game; once right handed and once left
handed.
A Swiss ski resort announced it would combat global warming by wrapping
its mountain glaciers in aluminum foil to keep them from melting.
The chameleon has a tongue that is one and a half times the length of
his body.
Beethoven dipped his head in cold water before he composed.
There once was a town named "6" in West Virginia.
Ten years ago, only 500 people in China could ski. This year, an
estimated 5,000,000 Chinese will visit ski resorts.
A Nigerian woman was caught entering the UK with 104 kg of snails in her
baggage.
Profanity is typically cut from in-flight movies to make them suitable
for general audiences. Fox Searchlight Pictures has substituted
"Ashcroft" for "A**hole" in the movie Sideways when dubbed for
Aerolineas Argentinas flights.
Author Hunter S. Thompson, who committed suicide recently, wanted to be
cremated and his ashes to be shot out of a cannon on his ranch.
Sports Illustrated magazine allows subscribers to opt out of receiving
the famous swimsuit issue each year. Fewer than 1% choose this option.
There is a company that will (for $14,000) take your ashes, compress
them into a synthetic diamond to be set in jewelry for a loved one.
The RIAA sued an 83 year old woman, even though a copy of her death
certificate was sent to the RIAA a week before it filed the suit.
Two 1903 paintings recently sold at auction for $590,000 - the paintings
were in the famous "Dogs Playing Poker" series.
Russian scientists have developed a new drug that prolongs drunkenness
and enhances intoxication.
Romanian firefighters could not get their trucks close enough to a
burning building, so they put out the fire by throwing snowballs at it.
A perfect SAT score is 1600 combined. Bill Gates scored 1590 on his SAT.
Paul Allen, Bill's partner in Microsoft, scored a perfect 1600. Bill
Cosby scored less than 500 combined.
Motorists traveling outside Salem, Oregon saw one of the "litter
cleanup" signs crediting the American Nazi party. Marion County
officials had no choice but to let that group into the adopt-a-road
program. The $500 per sign was picked up by Oregon taxpayers. The Ku
Klux Klan is also involved in the adopt-a-road program in the state of
Missouri.
Spam filters that catch the word "cialis" will not allow many
work-related e-mails through because that word is embedded inside the
word "specialist".
McDonald's restaurants will buy 54,000,000 pounds of fresh apples this
year. Two years ago, McDonald's purchased 0 pounds of apples. This is
attributed to the shift to more healthy menu options.
The biggest dog on record was an Old English Mastiff that weighed 343
pounds. He was 8 feet, 3 inches from nose to tail.
Mailmen in Russia now carry revolvers after a recent decision by the
government.
All of Queen Anne's 17 children died before she did.
There are over 87,000 Americans on waiting lists for organ transplants.
American made parts account for only 1% of the Chrysler Crossfire. 96%
of the Ford F-150 Heritage Truck is American.
A Dutch court ruled that a bank robber could deduct the 2,000 Euros he
paid for his pistol from the 6,600 Euros he has to return to the bank he
robbed.
Only 6% of the autographs in circulation from members of the Beatles are
estimated to be real.
The time spent deleting SPAM costs United States businesses $21.6
billion annually.
60.7 percent of eligible voters participated in the 2004 presidential
election, the highest percentage in 36 years. However, more than 78
million did not vote. This means President Bush won re-election by
receiving votes from less than 31% of all eligible voters in the United
States.
La Paz, Bolivia has an average annual temperature below 50 degrees
Fahrenheit. However, it has never recorded a zero-degree temperature.
Same for Stanley, Falkland Islands and Punta Arenas, Chile.
41% of Chinese people eat at least once a week at a fast food
restaurant. 35% of Americans do.
A Wisconsin forklift operator for a Miller beer distributor was fired
when a picture was published in a newspaper showing him drinking a Bud
Light.
G-rated family films earn far more money than any other rating. Yet only
3% of Hollywood's output is G-rated.
Richard Hatch, winner of the first "Survivor" reality series, has been
charged with tax evasion for failing to report his $1,000,000 prize.
The entire fleet of Unicoi County Tennessee's salt trucks was rendered
out of commission in one accident. All three trucks were badly damaged
when one of them began skidding down a road, causing a chain reaction
accident. Officials blamed road conditions.
More people study English in China than speak it in the United States of
America (300 million).
Fast food provider Hardee's has recently introduced the Monster
Thickburger. It has 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat.
More than 2,500 left-handed people are killed each year from using
products that are made for right-handed people.
For every person on earth, there are an estimated 200 million insects.
There are 2,000,000 millionaires in the United States.
1.5 million Americans are charged with drunk driving each year.
A Georgia company will mix your loved one's ashes with cement and drop
it into the ocean to form an artificial reef.
The Washington Times newspaper is owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
The busiest shopping hour of the holiday season is between 3:00 pm and
4:00 pm on Christmas Eve.
In 2002, women earned 742,000 bachelor's degrees. Men earned only
550,000 during the same year. The difference is growing so large that
many colleges now practice (quietly) affirmative action for male
applicants.
Most of the deck chairs on the Queen Mary 2 have had to be replaced
because overweight Americans were breaking them.
Actor Bill Murray doesn't have a publicist or an agent.
The day after President George W. Bush was reelected, Canada's main
immigration website had 115,000 visitors. Before Bush's re-election,
this site averaged about 20,000 visitors each day.
Only 30% of stolen artwork worth more than $1,000,000 each is recovered.
The typical American child receives 70 new toys a year, most of them
during the holiday season.
90% of Canada's 31,000,000 citizens live within 100 miles of the U.S.
border.
Costco is the largest wine retailer in the United States. Annual wine
sales are about $700 million.
The worst air polluter in the entire state of Washington is Mount St.
Helens.
There are less than 100 surviving American World War I veterans.
Actor Bruce Willis has filed a lawsuit against the movie studio that
produced his film "Tears of the Sun", alleging he was struck in the
forehead by a fake bullet. Since 2002 (when the movie was in
production), the lawsuit claims he has endured "extreme mental,
physical, and emotional pain and suffering".
A ten year old mattress weighs double what it did when it was new,
because of the -ahem- debris which is absorbed through the years. That
debris includes dust mites (their droppings and their decaying bodies),
mold, millions of dead skin cells, dandruff, animal and human hair,
secretions, excretions, lint, pollen, dust, soil, sand and a lot of
perspiration, of which the average person loses a quart per day. Good
night!
About 20% of gift card recipients never redeem the full value of the
card.
SUVs, pickup trucks, light trucks and minivans make up 54% of all
vehicles sold in the first nine months of 2004, up from 52% in 2003.
John Kerry's hometown newspaper, the Lowell Sun, endorsed George W. Bush
for president. Bush's hometown newspaper, the Lone Star Iconoclast,
endorsed John Kerry for president.
Only 939 of the 1,400,000 high school seniors who took the SAT in 2004
got a perfect score of 1600. Two of them are twin brothers Dillon and
Jesse Smith from Long Island, NY.
Billboard magazine has recently launched a top 20 chart of cell phone
ringtones.
The US Army is handing out $2,500 to Fallujah residents whose property
was destroyed by US planes and artillery.
George W. Bush, who presents himself as a man of faith, rarely goes to
church. Yet he won nearly two out of three voters who attend church at
least once a week.
In 2015, it is estimated that half the federal budget will be spent on
programs for the elderly.
Dolly Parton is planning on having breast reduction surgery soon to
relieve the pain on her back.
A private elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia, accidentally served
margaritas to its schoolchildren, thinking it was limeade.
The Chicago Cubs are suing former
Hartford Courant newspaper carrier Mark Guthrie to get back $301,000 in pay that was intended to go to a
Cubs pitcher with the same name. The Tribune Company owns both the
Hartford Courant and the Chicago Cubs.
In February 2004, a Disneyland employee was killed when he fell from a
parade float and was trapped between two float sections. OSHA termed
this a serious workplace violation, but Disney was fined only $6,300.
Even today, 90% of the continental United States is still open space or
farmland.
The second Saturday in September is usually a popular time for weddings.
Not in 2004, as most couples did not want their anniversaries on
September 11.
Mel Gibson has personally earned almost $400,000,000 from his movie "The
Passion of the Christ".
Austin High School in Texas has removed candy from its vending machines.
Now some enterprising students are earning $200 per week dealing in
black market candy.
In 2004, Virgin Atlantic Airlines introduced a double bed for first
class passengers who fly together.
The world's largest book, "Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey" is in a Chicago
public library. The book measures 5 feet tall by 7 feet wide when open.
It weighs 133 pounds.
If the recent U.S. election was held in Canada, John Kerry would have
beaten George Bush in a landslide - 64% to 19%.
Oprah Winfrey and Elvis Presley are distant cousins.
55% of Americans claim they would continue working even if they received
a $10,000,000 lottery prize.
The company that manufactures the greatest number of women's dresses
each year is Mattel. Barbie's got to wear something.
All radios in North Korea have been rigged so listeners can only receive
a North Korean government station. The United States recently announced
plans to smuggle $2,000,000 worth of small radios into the country so
North Koreans can get a taste of (what their government calls) "rotten
imperialist reactionary culture".
La Paz, Bolivia is the world's most fireproof city. At 12,000 feet about
sea level, the amount of oxygen in the air barely supports a flame.
The estates of 22 dead celebrities earned over $5 million in 2004. These
celebrities include Elvis Presley, Dr. Seuss, Charles Schulz, J.R.R.
Tolkien and John Lennon.
George Washington spent about 7% of his annual salary on liquor.
Each year, more people are killed by teddy bears than by grizzly bears.
If you disassembled the Great Pyramid of Cheops, you would get enough
stones to encircle the earth with a brick wall twenty inches high.
Nearly one third of New York City public school teachers send their own
children to private schools.
The New York City Police Department has a $3.3 billion annual budget,
larger than all but 19 of the world's armies.
CBS's fine for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" in the 2004 Super
Bowl show was $550,000. This could be paid with only 7.5 seconds of
commercial time during the same Super Bowl telecast.
In September 2004, a Minnesota state trooper issued a speeding ticket to
a motorcyclist who was clocked at 205 mph.
Al Gore's roommate in college (Harvard, class of 1969) was Tommy Lee
Jones.
In her later years, Florence Nightingale kept a pet owl in her pocket.
The New York Jets were unable to find hotel rooms for a game in
Indianapolis recently because they had all been booked up by people
attending Gencon, a gaming convention.
China is the world's largest market for BMW's top of the line 760Li.
This car sells for $200,000 in China - more than almost all people in
China make in a lifetime.
A chef's hat is shaped the way it is for a reason: its shape allows air
to circulate around the scalp, keeping the head cool in a hot kitchen.
Life expectancy for Russian men has actually gone down over the past 40
years. A Russian male born today can expect to live an average 58 years.
Each year, sixteen million gallons of oil run off pavement into streams,
rivers and eventually oceans in the United States. This is more oil than
was spilled by the Exxon Valdez.
An employee of the Alabama Department of Transportation installed
spyware on his boss's computer and proved that the boss spent 10% of his
time working (20% of time checking stocks and 70% of the time playing
solitaire). The employee was fired, the boss kept his job.
In 1985, the most popular waist size for men's pants was 32. In 2003,
it's 36.
Solid structures (parking lots, roads, buildings) in the United States
cover an area the size of Ohio.
A Brussels Airlines flight to Vienna was aborted because the pilot was
attacked in the cockpit. The attacker was a passenger's cat, who got out
of its travel bag.
Physicists have already performed a simple type of teleportation,
transferring the quantum characteristics of one atom onto another atom
at a different location.
At General Motors, the cost of health care for employees now exceeds the
cost of steel.
There is a regulation size half-court where employees can play
basketball inside the Matterhorn at Disneyland.
One of pitcher Nolan Ryan's jockstraps recently sold at auction for
$25,000.
Television stations hung banners at the 2004 Democratic National
Convention, including Al-Jazeera, until it was noticed and taken down.
A woman was chewing what was left of her chocolate bar when she entered
a Metro station in Washington DC. She was arrested and handcuffed;
eating is prohibited in Metro stations.
The New York City subway system, in an effort to raise revenue, is
considering selling sponsorships of individual stations to corporations.
Riders could soon be getting off at Nike Grand Central Station or Sony
Times Square.
The Nike swoosh was designed by a Portland State University student, and
purchased by Nike for $35.
Gerald Ford once worked as a cover model for Cosmopolitan magazine.
Gillette spent $1,000,000 to place razor samples in the welcome bags
handed out at the Democratic National Convention, only to have them
confiscated as they were considered a threat. This caused huge delays at
all security checkpoints.
Quebec City, Canada, has about as much street crime as Disney World.
Jim Carrey voted in 2004 at the Beverly Hills City Hall. He had an
assistant wait in line for him, however.
As part of a charity event, 500 cats were spayed and neutered in the
cafeteria of an elementary school. School was cancelled for days and
$10,000 was spent on cleaning and sterilizing the room.
The United States has five percent of the world's population, but
twenty-five percent of the world's prison population.
Seven percent of Americans claim they never bathe at all.
The largest McDonald's is in Beijing, China - measuring 28,000 square
feet. It has twenty nine cash registers.
A house in Baghdad worth $15,000 before the Iraq war now sells for
$120,000 to $150,000.
There are between 5,000 and 7,000 tigers kept as pets in the United
States.
The fertility rate in states that voted for George Bush is 12% higher
than states that favored John Kerry.
The chicken is one of the few things that man eats before it's born and
after it's dead.
The number of US college students studying Latin is three times the
number studying Arabic.
In 2004, one in six girls in the United States enter puberty at age 8. A
hundred years ago, only one in a hundred entered puberty that early.
If you hook Jell-O up to an EEG, it registers movements almost identical
to a human adult's brain waves.
Some dogs can predict when a child will have an epileptic seizure, and
even protect the child from injury. They're not trained to do this, they
simply learn to respond after observing at least one attack.
32 out of 33 samples of well-known brands of milk purchased in Los
Angeles and Orange counties in California had trace amounts of
perchlorate. Perchlorate is the explosive component in rocket fuel.
The remains of 125 people will be launched into space where they will
orbit the Earth for centuries.
The leading cause of on-the-job deaths in workplaces in America is
homicide.
So far, Congress has authorized $152,600,000,000 for the Iraq war. This
is enough to build over 17,500 elementary schools.
Americans take an average of just ten days per year vacation. In France,
the law guarantees everyone five weeks of vacation, and most full-time
workers get two full months vacation.
The IRS admits that one in five people who call their help line get the
wrong answer to their question.
20% of Americans think that the sun orbits around the Earth.
Van Halen singer David Lee Roth is training to be an EMT in New York
City, and plans to be certified by November 2004.
The thong accounts for 25% of the United States women's underwear
market.
On average, 40% of all hotel rooms in the United States remain empty
every night.
When you hear a bullwhip snap, it's because the tip is traveling faster
than the speed of sound.
There is a new television show on a British cable called "Watching Paint
Dry". Viewers watch in real-time. Gloss, semi-gloss, matte, satin, you
name it. Then viewers vote out their least favorite.
The largest ocean liners pay a $250,000 toll for each trip through the
Panama Canal. The canal generates fully one-third of Panama's entire
economy.
French author Michel Thaler published a 233 page novel which has no
verbs.
The spring thaw finally allows cemeteries in Alaska to start digging
graves for those who died during the winter.
When Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen turn 18 in mid-2004, they will take
official control of a company worth more than the gross national product
of Mongolia. Their earnings in 2003 topped $1 billion.
Orthodox rabbis warned that New York City drinking water might not be
kosher; it contains harmless micro-organisms that are technically
shellfish.
David Bowie thinks he is being stalked by someone who is dressed like a
giant pink rabbit. Bowie has noticed the fan at several recent concerts,
but he became alarmed when he got on a plane and the bunny was on board.
A party boat filled with 60 men and women capsized in Texas after all
the passengers rushed to one side as the boat passed a nude beach.
In 1997, a woman in Bradenton, Florida lost her cat. In 2004, she got a
call from the local animal shelter. The cat turned up wandering the
streets in San Francisco, California. The cat's identity was proven with
a microchip that had been implanted prior to 1997.
Almost 20% of the billions of dollars American taxpayers are spending to
rebuild Iraq are lost to theft, kickbacks and corruption.
The treasury department has more than twenty people assigned to catching
people who violate the trade and tourism embargo with Cuba. In contrast,
it has only four employees assigned to track the assets of Osama bin
Laden and Saddam Hussein.
There are 40,000 New York City cab drivers, who collectively drive more
than a million miles each day.
An estimated 800,000 senior citizens voluntarily give up their driving
privileges each year. The average age at which they surrender the wheel
is 85.
More than 8,100 US troops are still listed as missing in action from the
Korean war.
3,400,000 Americans are considered "Extreme Commuters". These people
commute over 90 minutes round trip every day to work.
82% of Americans made a purchase at Wal-Mart in 2002.
Oslo, Norway is the world's most expensive city. A gallon on gas costs
almost $5, and it costs $1.32 to use the public restrooms.
Villanova University's commencement speaker this year is the actor who
plays Big Bird.
In 1965, auditions were held for the "Monkees" TV show. Some of the
people who responded (but were not hired) were Stephen Stills, Harry
Nilsson, and Paul Williams.
Kevin Spacey's older brother is a professional Rod Stewart impersonator.
71% of office workers stopped on the street for a survey agreed to give
up their computer passwords in exchange for a chocolate bar.
George W. Bush and John Kerry are 16th cousins, three times removed.
If current trends continue, Medicare costs will absorb 51% of all income
tax revenues by 2042.
The prison system is the largest supplier of mental health services in
America, with 250,000 Americans with mental illness living there.
Newest trend in the Netherlands: Tiny jewels implanted directly into the
eye.
Researchers have found that doctors who spend at least three hours a
week playing video games make about 37% fewer mistakes in laparoscopic
surgery than surgeons who didn't play video games.
Before he had his own show, Jerry Seinfeld appeared on three episodes of
the TV show "Benson" as the governor's speechwriter.
There are 1,008 McDonald's franchises in France.
Hostess Twinkies were originally filled with banana filling. The filling
was changed during World War II when the United States experienced a
banana shortage.
World War II veterans are now dying at the rate of about 1,100 each day.
George W. Bush is probably going to be the eighth president in US
history to have completed a term in office without ever having issued a
single veto.
A deployed air bag adds as much as $2,000 to the cost of repairing a
vehicle. That's enough for insurance companies to often declare the car
"totaled".
For the first time in history, the number of people on the planet aged
60 or over will soon surpass those under 5.
A British gymnast survived a fall from a fourth story window because he
went into a somersault and came down on two feet.
One out of five people in the world (1.1 billion people) live on less
than $1 per day.
The Swedish pop group ABBA recently turned down an offer of $2 billion
to reunite.
The New Yorker magazine now has more subscribers in California than New
York.
Five years ago, 60% of all retail purchases were made with cash or
check. Now it's 50%. By 2010, 39% of purchases will be made by cash or
check.
35 Billion e-mails are sent each day throughout the world.
The richest self-made American under 40 is Michael Dell, chairman of
Dell Computers. He is worth $18 billion.
Legislators in Santa Fe, New Mexico, are considering a law that would
require pets to wear seat belts when traveling in a car.
Life Savers got their shape by a malfunctioning machine, which
mistakenly punched a hole in the center of each candy.
SUV sales are up 18% in the first quarter of 2004 vs. the same period of
2003, even though gas prices are skyrocketing. Consumer surveys show
that gas prices would have to hit $3.75 per gallon before there will be
any real impact on SUV sales.
Airport security agents at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts caught
a passenger trying to sneak a severed seal head onto a plane inside a
cooler. The man said he was a biology professor and had found the dead
animal on the beach.
Jimmy Carter once reported a UFO in Georgia.
There are 150,000,000 cell phones in use in the United States, more than
one per every two human beings in the country.
A Boeing 767 airliner is made of 3,100,000 separate parts.
The average child recognizes over 200 company logos by the time he
enters first grade.
Last December, the House of Representatives earmarked $50,000,000 to
create an indoor rain forest in Iowa.
Amusement park attendance goes up after a fatal accident. It seems many
people want to ride upon the same ride that killed someone.
Jeffrey and Sheryl McGowen in Houston turned to vitro fertilization. Two
eggs were implanted in Sheryl's womb, and both of them split. Sheryl
gave birth to two sets of identical twins at once.
For every ton of fish that is caught in all the oceans on our planet,
there are three tons of garbage dumped into the oceans.
June Foray did the voice for Rocky the Flying Squirrel and the Chatty
Cathy dolls.
Japanese and Chinese people die on the fourth of the month more often
than any other dates. The reason may be that they are "scared to death"
by the number four. The words four and death sound alike in both Chinese
and Japanese.
People with initials that spell out GOD or ACE are likely to live longer
than people whose initials spell out words like APE, PIG, or RAT.
More people in the United States die during the first week of the month
than during the last, an increase that may be a result of the abuse of
substances purchased with benefit checks that come at the beginning of
each month.
In the film Forrest Gump, all the still photos show Forrest with his
eyes closed.
There are an average of 18,000,000 items for sale at any time on EBay.
On EBay, there are an average of $680 worth of transactions each second.
The New York Times reports that in February 2004, 62% of all e-mail was
spam.
A Massachusetts surgeon left a patient with an open incision for 35
minutes while he went to deposit a check.
In 1991, the average bra size in the United States was 34B. Today it's
36C.
U.K. telecom provider Telewest Broadband is testing a
device that hooks to your PC and wafts a scent when certain e-mails
arrive.
The average North Korean 7-year-old is almost three inches
shorter than the average South Korean 7-year-old.
In 1993, David McLean developed lung cancer. He died on October 12,
1995. McLean's death made him the second Marlboro Man to die of lung
cancer. Another actor, Wayne McLaren, died in 1992 at the age of 51 from
lung cancer.
There is a bar in London that sells vaporized vodka, which is inhaled
instead of sipped.
According to market research firm NPD Fashionworld, fifty percent of all
lingerie purchases are returned to the store.
The Eiffel Tower shrinks 6 inches in winter.
The first FAX machine was patented in 1843, 33 years before Alexander
Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone.
72% of Americans sign their pets' names on greeting cards they send out.
In an effort to encourage the use of nuclear energy, the United States
lent highly enriched uranium to countries all over the world between
1950 and 1988. Enough weapons-grade material to make 1,000 nuclear bombs
has still not been returned by such countries as Pakistan, Iran, Israel
and South Africa.
Homing pigeons use roads where possible to help find their way home. In
fact, some pigeons followed roads so closely that they actually flew
around traffic circles before choosing the exit that led them home.
Every year, 2700 surgical patients go home from the hospital with metal
tools, sponges, and other objects left inside them. In 2000, 57 people
died as a result of these mistakes.
A snowflake can take up to a hour to fall from the cloud to the surface
of the Earth.
Only 5 percent of the ocean floor has been mapped in as much detail as
the surface of Mars.
The only people whose likenesses adorn Pez dispensers are Betsy Ross and
Paul Revere.
We forget 80 percent of what we learn everyday.
Pain is measured in units of "dols". The instrument used to measure pain
is a "dolorimeter".
In a nod to astronauts, Texas is the only state that permits residents
to cast absentee ballots from space.
Eleven top executives of the Direct Marketing Association (the
telemarketers' group that is trying to kill the federal "Do Not Call"
list) have registered for the list themselves.
An iceberg the size of Long Island, New York, has broken off Antarctica
and has blocked sea lanes used by both ships and penguins.
In 2003, the Transportation Security Administration dropped a
requirement that air marshals pass a marksmanship test. Some applicants
were even hired after they repeatedly shot flight attendants in mock
hijacking episodes.
As of January 2004, the United States economy now borrows $1,500,000,000
each day from foreign investors.
A Costa Rican worker who makes baseballs earns about $2,750 annually.
The average American pro baseball player earns $2,377,000 per year.
Former keyboard player for Jethro Tull David Palmer is now a woman named
Dee Palmer. He waited until his wife died before going through with his
longtime desire for a sex change.
During Bill Clinton's entire eight year presidency, he only sent two
e-mails. One was to John Glenn when he was aboard the space shuttle, and
the other was a test of the e-mail system.
The only state with a one syllable name is Maine.
Albert Einstein never knew how to drive a car.
The UK's best selling hiking magazine published faulty coordinates for
descending Scotland's tallest peak (Ben Nevis), and recommended a route
that leads climbers off the edge of a cliff.
The Mars Rover "Spirit" is powered by six small motors the size of "C"
batteries. It has a top speed of 0.1 mph.
Zeppo Marx (the unfunny one of the Marx Brothers) had a patent for a
wristwatch with a heart monitor.
The entire town of Capena, Italy (including children as young as 2 years
old) lights up cigarettes each year in honor of St. Anthony's Day. This
tradition is centuries old.
The Amish a diet high in meat, dairy, refined sugars and calories. Yet
obesity is virtually unknown among them. The difference is since they
have no TVs, cars or powered machines, they spend their time in manual
labor.
Microsoft threatened 17 year old Mike Rowe with a lawsuit after the
young man launched a website named MikeRoweSoft.com.
As of January 1, 2004, the population of the United States increases by
one person every 12 seconds. There is a birth every eight seconds, an
immigrant is added every 25 seconds, but a death every 13 seconds.
There is a Starbucks in Myungdong, South Korea that is five stories
tall.
Astronauts cannot burp in space. There is no gravity to separate liquid
from gas in their stomachs.
There has been no mail delivery in Canada on Saturday for the last
thirty five years.
The weight of air in a milk glass is about the same as the weight of an
aspirin tablet.
Finland has the greatest number of islands of any country in the world:
179,584.
The world's smallest winged insect is the Tanzanian parasitic wasp. It's
smaller than the eye of a housefly.
Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely
solid.
The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
If you have three quarters, four dimes and four cents, you have $1.19.
But you cannot make exact change for a dollar.
There are more plastic flamingoes in the United States than real ones.
The chance that you will die on the way to buy your lottery ticket is
greater than the chance of you winning the big prize in most lotteries.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton Look-Alike contest.
An average of 100 people choke to death on ball point pens each year.
The National Anthem of Greece has 158 verses.
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood
plasma.
The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in
Colorado.
The Bible has been translated into Klingon.
Toto was paid $125 per week while filming the "Wizard of Oz".
All polar bears are left handed.
Fidgeting can burn about 350 calories a day.
In the early 1940s, Heinz produced a version of Alphabetti Spaghetti
especially for the German market that consisted only of little pasta
swastikas.
To help reduce budget deficits, several states have begun reducing the
amount of food served to prison inmates. In Texas, the number of daily
calories served to prisoners was cut by 300, saving the state $6,000,000
per year.
The only member of the band ZZ Top without a beard has the last name
Beard.
Pope John Paul II is the world's Scrabble champion in the
over-70 category.
Montpelier, Vermont is the only state capitol without a McDonald's.
If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line
would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
Wearing headphones for an hour increases the bacteria in your ear 700
times.
In 1993, the board of governors at Carl Karcher Enterprises voted (5 to
2) to fire Carl Karcher. Carl Karcher is the founder of Carls Jr.
restaurants.
The little hole in the sink that lets the water drain out, instead of
flowing over the side, is called a "porcelator."
The wingspan of a Boeing 747 jet is longer than the Wright Brothers'
first flight.
Ted Turner owns 5% of New Mexico.
Over 8 years, this happened 284 times: "Cosmo" Kramer went through Jerry
Seinfeld's apartment door.
The cruise liner Queen Elizabeth 2 moves only six inches for each gallon
of diesel fuel that it burns.
There are more 100 dollar bills in Russia currently than there are in
the United States.
Maine has no venomous snakes.
It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
65% of Elvis impersonators are of Asian descent.
More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.
Burt Reynolds was originally cast to be Han Solo in the first Star Wars
film. He dropped out before filming.
Pope John Paul II was named an "Honorary Harlem Globetrotter" in 2000.
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M - 1,
named so because it was the first paved road anywhere.
There are only three types of snakes on the island of Tasmania and all
three are deadly poisonous.
It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King
James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from
the first word is "shake" and the 46th word from the last word is
"spear".
If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long.
The strength of early lasers was measured in Gillettes, the number of
blue razor blades a given beam could puncture.
The drive-through line on opening day at the McDonald's restaurant in
Kuwait City, Kuwait was at times seven miles long.
Point Roberts in Washington State is cut off from the rest of the state
by British Columbia, Canada. If you wish to travel from Point Roberts to
the rest of the state or vice versa, you must pass through Canada,
including both Canadian and U.S. customs.
The Pentagon in Washington, D. C. has five sides, five stories, and five
acres in the middle.
Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated for an Oscar
with "Midnight Cowboy." Her entire role lasted only six minutes.
There is an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which has a winter
population of 200.
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
Newborn babies are given to the wrong mother in the hospital 12 times a
day worldwide.
The Starbucks at the highest elevation is on Main Street in
Breckenridge, Colorado.
Each year, over 1,000,000 people fail to itemize out the mortgage
interest deduction on their income taxes. Last year, this amounted to
$473,000,000 in taxes.
In 1998, more fast-food employees were murdered on the job than police
officers.
The lead singer of The Knack, famous for "My Sharona," and Jack
Kevorkian's lead defense attorney are brothers, Doug & Jeffrey Feiger.
Two very popular and common objects have the same function, but one has
thousands of moving parts, while the other has absolutely no moving
parts - an hourglass and a sundial.
One out of three employees who received a promotion use a coffee mug
with the company logo on it.
If you know a millionaire who happens to be married, what is the most
likely profession of his wife? She's probably a teacher.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
The two-foot long bird called a Kea that lives in New Zealand likes to
eat the strips of rubber around car windows.
1 pound of lemons contain more sugar than 1 pound of strawberries.
160 cars can drive side by side on the Monumental Axis in Brazil, the
world's widest road.
The "you are here" arrow on maps is called an ideo locator.
60% of all US potato products originate in Idaho.
61,000 people are airborne over the US at any given time.
A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down.
Mark Twain was born on a day in 1835 when Halley's Comet came into view.
When he died in 1910, Halley's Comet was in view again.
A blind chameleon still changes colors to match his environment.
The Weddell seal can travel underwater for seven miles without surfacing
for air.
In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, "They'll put a man on
the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, a few hours after
Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first (and
only) home run.
The longest words in the English language with only one syllable are the
nine-letter "screeched" and "strengths".
Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eye".
All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" read 4:20.
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
A baby is born without kneecaps. They appear between age 2 and 6.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
A snail can have about 25,000 teeth.
A snail can also sleep for three years.
A starfish can turn its stomach inside out.
A strand from the web of a golden spider is as strong as a steel wire of
the same size.
A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans.
About a third of all Americans flush the toilet while they're still
sitting on it.
According to Genesis 1:20-22 the chicken came before the egg.
Soldiers from every country salute with their right hand.
The microwave oven was invented by mistake when an engineer testing a
magnetron tube noticed that the radiation from it melted the chocolate
bar he had in his pocket.
Moisture, not air, causes super glue to dry.
Only 14% of Americans say they've skinny dipped with the opposite sex.
What separates "60 Minutes" on CBS from every other TV show? No theme
song or music.
Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace.
Most boat owners name their boats. The most popular boat name requested
is Obsession.
100% of all lottery winners gain weight.
An average American will spend an average of 6 months during his
lifetime waiting at red lights.
The five Olympic rings are always red, black, blue, green and yellow
because at least one of those colors appears on the flag of every nation
on the planet.
Cats can hear ultrasound.
In a recent survey, Americans revealed that banana was their favorite
smell.
In all three Godfather films, when you see oranges, there is a death (or
a very close call) coming up soon.
The arteries and veins surrounding the brain stem called the "circle of
Willis" looks like a stick person with a large head.
Brushing your teeth regularly has been shown to prevent heart disease.
If you were to spell out numbers, you would you have to go until 1,000
until you would find the letter "A".
23% of employees say they have had sex in the office.
Bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers
were all invented by women.
Married men change their underwear twice as often as single men.
A kiss stimulates 29 muscles and chemicals causing relaxation. Women
seem to like it light and frequent, men like it more strenuous.
There are more collect calls on Father's Day than any other day of the
year.
Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
40% of all people who come to a party in your home snoop in your
medicine cabinet.
3.9% of all women surveyed say they never wear underwear.
Superman is featured on every episode of "Seinfeld", either by name or
pictures on Jerry's refrigerator.
85% of the guys who cheat on their wives die while having sex.
Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than for the US Treasury.
American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from
each salad served first class.
Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28
Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38
Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman if
they had it to do all over again: 80
Percentage of American women who say they would marry the same man: 50
Percentage of men who say they are happier after their divorce or
separation: 58
Percentage of women who say they are happier: 85
Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches
Percentage of bird species that are monogamous: 90
Percentage of mammal species that are monogamous: 3
Chances that a burglary in the US will be solved: 1 in 7
Portion of land in the US owned by the government: 1/3
Only bird that can fly backwards: Hummingbird
Only continent without reptiles or snakes: Antarctica
An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.
In the Caribbean there are oysters that can climb trees.
February 1865 was the only month in recorded history that didn't have a
full moon.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
When George Lucas was mixing the American Graffiti soundtrack, he
numbered the reels of film starting with an R and numbered the dialog
starting with a D. Sound designer Walter Murch asked George for Reel 2,
Dialog 2 by saying "R2D2". George liked the way that sounded so much he
integrated that into another project he was working on.
The youngest pope was 11 years old.
Mark Twain didn't graduate from elementary school.
Proportional to their weight, men are stronger than horses.
Pilgrims ate popcorn at the first Thanksgiving dinner.
Your nose and ears never stop growing.
They have square watermelons in Japan...they stack better.
Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.
Heinz Catsup leaving the bottle travels at 25 miles per year.
It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.
Men get hiccups more often than women.
Armadillos can be housebroken.
Human teeth are almost as hard as rocks.
The first Fords had engines made by Dodge.
A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.
Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child
inside.
A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge, a dime has one less groove.
A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin.
Today it is known as Tennessee.
The flashing warning light on the cylindrical Capitol Records tower
spells out HOLLYWOOD in Morse code.
Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year.
One in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.
The average American will eat about 11.9 pounds of cereal per year.
You're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only
have 206.
Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
Over 1000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.
The State of Florida is bigger than England.
Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning.
It's against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland.
Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day.
Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.
During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food. That's the
weight of about 6 elephants.
Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food.
Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old.
In space, astronauts cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so the
tears can't flow.
About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30.
More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.
A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.
Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe.
In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons.
Slugs have 4 noses.
Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to watch TV for 3 hours.
Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet.
Owls are the only birds who can see the color blue.
The average American drinks about 600 sodas a year.
It's against the law to slam your car door in Switzerland.
There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses.
Honeybees have hair on their eyes.
A jellyfish is 95 percent water.
In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their
finals.
A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your
plate.
The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump.
The penguin is the only bird who can swim, but not fly.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of
any of the United States.
One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet.
America once issued a 5-cent bill.
You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in your lifetime.
Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under is cap to keep him cool. He changed
it every 2 innings.
Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles
Jung.
A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years.
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
The pitches that Babe Ruth hit for his last-ever homerun and that Joe
DiMaggio hit for his first-ever homerun where thrown by the same man.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head.
In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.
There are over 52.6 million dogs in the U.S.
Dogs and cats consume almost $7 billion worth of pet food a year.
Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.
The Pentagon has twice as many restrooms as necessary. When it was
built, segregation was still in place in Virginia, so separate restrooms
for blacks and whites were required by law.
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
In 2003, there were 86 days of below-freezing weather in Hell, Michigan.
The average person laughs 15 times a day.

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